no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 178 Riley shows off his operation, and Barkley fulfills his bet
James' remarks after the game caused an uproar.

Although in theory, James was hacked for a season, fought back when the doubts reached their highest point, and even showed his optimism, it can be considered as having a reason.

However, the crux of the matter lies in the occasion and method of fighting back.

If James is excessively criticized by the media and fans and has a victim image in front of the public, then such a response will be recognized by the outside world.

After all, although people have different personalities, they all have some sympathy for the victims in their bones.

But now, the reporter just asked a very routine question, but James seemed to be waiting for the reporter to ask this, and then couldn't wait to say it all.

Especially, this was just after being swept by the opponent.

It felt like he didn't care whether the team won or lost.

Especially with Zhu Yu who completed two consecutive championships after Kobe's "number one loser" in front of him, his remarks seemed extremely shameful in comparison.

This shows that he has already made plans in his mind, either because his team's professional ability is not good enough, or because his personal brain circuit is just weird.

All in all, after the Big Three were swept away at their peak and these remarks were made, James' personal image has reached a new low in history.

Miami, American Airlines Arena.

After being swept out, the Heat's season journey has come to an end and the players are about to begin their annual offseason.

But before that, the Heat have to conduct a season summary.

This is not something every team will do, but it is the culture of the Heat.

Riley was currently revising his speech in his office.

He rubbed his forehead from time to time, and he looked ten years older than before.

Last year's offseason was very important for the Heat. If he can't keep Wade, the Heat will directly enter the rebuilding period.

For a competitive guy like him, rebuilding wasn't something he wanted to do.

So he endured huge pressure and racked his brains to form this unprecedented top three lineup.

But he didn't expect that it would end like this, which made him feel like he was in danger of losing his life.

Under such a background, it is indeed not easy for him to write a speech that can inspire morale.

"Hey~"

At this moment, there was a knock on the door of his office.

"Come in."

He put down the manuscript in his hand, looked up, and then realized that the person who came in was James.

Riley gave a professional smirk.

James is indispensable for the Heat's ability to form the Big Three, so although he struggled, Riley can't blame him.

And from a personal image perspective, if you dismantle the lineup you built under huge pressure from public opinion the next year, wouldn’t that be a slap in the face?

So although his starting point was different from Wade's, he had no other choice but to believe in James.

After James came in, he glanced outside the door, then closed the door, and finally walked to sit opposite Riley.

Riley looked confused at his unusual behavior.

"Mr. Riley, I think we need to make some changes next season." James said carefully.

Riley put his hand on his chin and looked at James with amusement in his eyes.

Although he was in a irritable mood at this time, he was an old fox after all, and he had heard the news about James interfering with the management in Cleveland, so it was not difficult for him to guess that James wanted the management to do something at this moment.

"Dwayne, Chris and I have been working hard to find a way to play that suits each other. We have had many private conversations, but that hasn't worked. I don't think that's what our players can do." James observed After looking at Riley's face, he continued.

"Oh?" Riley put down his hand at this time and sat up straight.

"We need a coach with rich coaching experience to guide us, Mr. Riley, I think there is no one more suitable than you." James smiled when he mentioned Riley's name.

The conflict between him and Spoelstra has long been made public, but a good entry point has never been found.

Being swept this time is an opportunity. You know in sports, if the team performs poorly, it is the most common thing to fire the head coach.

Especially in the NBA, coaches are fired for poor performance, coaches are fired for conflicts within the team, and coaches are fired for indecisiveness. The head coach is simply the scapegoat.

Not to mention a young coach like Spoelstra who doesn't have much fame in the league.

But he also knows that Spoelstra and Riley have a close relationship. If you suddenly propose someone else, Riley may not agree.

However, this problem will be solved as long as the person who changes the coach is replaced by Riley himself.

You must know that Riley also has a criminal record in this matter.

Riley resigned as head coach due to the Heat's poor record, and the Heat were replaced by Stan Van Gundy.

Unexpectedly, Van Gundy's coaching effect was surprisingly good, especially when Wade, who was new to the league, showed his superstar potential in his second season under his guidance.

The Heat were fourth in the Eastern Conference in the first year, and directly ranked first in the Eastern Conference after trading for O'Neal in the second year.

Although they unfortunately lost to the Pistons 3-4 in the Eastern Conference Finals that year, Van Gundy's coaching was generally very successful.

As a result, in Van Gundy's third season as coach, Riley fired Van Gundy on the pretext of a poor start to the season and picked up the slack himself.

So now that the team has stopped in the Eastern Conference Finals, the situation is extremely similar to that of back then. Even Spoelstra is far less famous than Van Gundy was back then, and there won't even be any pressure from public opinion if Riley leaves the game.

And speaking of it, when they formed the Big Three, the three of them discussed whether Spoelstra or Riley should coach, just because of Wade's words, "Riley is a training freak, you don't want him to coach." "And let it go.

But now is the perfect time to say this.

Riley didn't say anything or express anything, just smiled.

James was a little confused about Riley's attitude for a while.

"You go back first, I will take care of it." Riley finally said.

James wanted to say something more, but Riley had already picked up the speech again, so he could only get up and leave.

After James left, Riley called Spoelstra and told him he would be at the training facility in 15 minutes and asked Spoelstra to gather all the players.

After hanging up the phone, he threw the speech he had written into the trash can.

To be honest, it is not that he has never thought about coaching the Heat again, but his habit is to wait and see for a while.

Just like Van Gundy did at the beginning, he would only do it if he thought he could succeed.

But after observing this season, the relationship between the Big Three teams was too complicated, especially as James had obvious weaknesses as a player and too many privileges, which made him finally give up the idea.

However, James' approach allowed him to find an opportunity, something more useful than any speech draft.

Fifteen minutes later, Riley showed up at the training facility.

Spoelstra has asked everyone on the team, including members of the coaching staff, to be present.

Because Riley himself was going to give a season summary speech, but the time was just a little earlier.

Of course, Spoelstra was a little surprised when he saw Riley empty-handed. His teacher actually wrote off the script this time?

"All team members, stand facing the wall."

Then Riley's first words shocked him.

Good guy, what happens if you face the wall directly?
Everyone on the Heat team was also stunned, seemingly caught off guard.

However, looking at Riley's serious expression, it didn't look like he was joking. Everyone turned around one after another and stood facing the wall.At this time, Riley continued to speak: "Just now, a player went to my office and told me something. I won't tell who that person is, but now, I want to give him my reply."

When Riley said this, James suddenly felt something was not good.

Because if there is really a coaching change, there is no need for Riley to make such a big fanfare and engage in wall-to-wall operations.

"You never came into my office and told me I was going to fire a coach and your job was just to play basketball. That's the culture of the Heat!"

Riley's words were so powerful that all the Heat players looked at each other.

Wade, in particular, turned his head and looked at James almost instinctively.

In the Heat, the three of them are the only ones who dare to change the head coach with Riley at this time, or have the strength to do so at this time.

But he and Bosh have been in the training hall, but James left for a while.

This basically confirms that it is James.

James' face was burning at this time.

He never expected that Riley would treat his request in such a way.

Even if Riley disagreed, she could have declined him politely, but now she chose to use him as a stepping stone to boost morale.

The point is, you Riley are not a White Lotus, but now you are telling me about the team culture.

But even if he was unhappy at the moment, he could only keep it in his heart.

Because if he shows it, the whole team will know that it was him who asked to replace Spoelstra.

It was also the first time that he felt Riley's "divine fortune teller" ability.

Although in fact, based on James's reputation and his relationship with Spoelstra, most Heat players could guess it was him.

Riley continued. As a veteran who has been around for many years, as long as he finds the right entry point, there is actually no need for speech drafts or anything like that.

"The culture of the Heat is unyielding. No matter how difficult it is, they will fight like a fighter. This is a culture that has been formed since Alonzo Mourning came to the team and will continue. So I don’t hold anyone accountable for our losses this year, I just want you to pick up where you fell, all of you.”

I have to say that Riley's speech was very accurate, and it also boosted the morale of the Heat.

But James was really gritting his teeth at this time and clenching his hands into fists.

Riley's approach was not only a reply to his previous request, but also the remarks he made after losing the game.

These morale-boosting words reached his ears and turned directly into reprimands.

However, he could only stay next to it.

A lot of things are mutual. Riley and Wade know that their Big Three cannot be disbanded in one season, and the same goes for James.

If he really proposed a trade in the offseason, then he would really become a street rat and everyone would beat him up. This is why he just proposed to change the head coach.

So now, no matter how angry he was, he could only endure it, break his teeth and swallow it into his stomach.

But he remembered everything Riley did today.

……

The Eastern Conference Finals has come to an end, but the game in the Western Conference Finals is still going on, with the Mavericks currently leading 2-1.

This is the third time in a row that the Bulls are waiting for their opponent after the series ends.

But this time the fans will not be lonely, because something more worth looking forward to than the Western Conference Finals is about to come.

The Bulls successfully defeated the Heat, and it was a sweep in a hurry. Whether Barkley will fulfill his promise to drink horse urine is more interesting than the game.

On this day, Thibodeau only conducted daily training in the morning and gave the players a day off in the afternoon.

In the evening, Xu Yong was at home and originally wanted to call O'Neal and ask him to witness this classic moment together.

O'Neal named the liger Barkley, and he said before that he wanted Barkley to drink ready-made horse urine. He must be looking forward to this.

But no one answered the phone, and he recalled that O'Neal didn't come for breakfast this morning, and he didn't seem to go to training.

I don’t know where this guy went.

Every player has his own private life, and he didn't pay much attention to it. He turned on the TV and watched the TNT live broadcast.

Data shows that at this moment, the ratings of TNT programs actually exceeded the Eastern Conference finals G4, which had just refreshed the ratings. It can only be said that the most people watching the excitement are always the most.

After the show started, Barkley was seriously analyzing the situation in the Western Conference Finals, while Smith kept making sidesteps, reminding him that it was time to fulfill his previous commitments.

I have to say that they are absolutely professional when it comes to program effects.

After Barkley finally started chatting about the bet, Smith said he was sweet and had everything arranged.

Immediately afterwards, the camera focused on the door of the opener. After the door was pushed open, an unexpected figure appeared.

No, two to be precise.

Xu Yong was stunned for a moment when he saw it, and then he suddenly realized.

Because it was clearly O'Neill and his liger that appeared there.

No wonder this guy disappeared for a whole day. It turned out that he was recording a live show.

Buckley was originally quite angry, but when he saw the liger, he was so frightened that he dared not speak out, and his expression was perfect.

O'Neill took the liger and showed him some instructions on taming it, and then sat next to the two of them.

Then, the topic of the show shifted to the liger, with O'Neal introducing it and finally saying its name was Charles Barkley.

Buckley was angry and wanted to fight, but was stopped by Kenny Smith.

"Charles, I think animals like horses are not worthy of you, so I brought this." O'Neill said and a test tube of yellow liquid jumped out of his pocket.

"It's tiger urine. Charles Barkley drank Charles Barkley's tiger urine, which I thought was pretty cool."

Buckley resisted at first, but when O'Neill's personal breeder led the liger to them, Buckley reluctantly opened the test tube, smelled it and turned his head with a painful expression.

Immediately afterwards, he pinched his nose and took a small sip, and then drank it with a painful expression. After a while, he was holding the trash can and retching.

Real men don't drink horse urine, only tiger urine.

What is the program effect?Fill it up directly.

Then O'Neal and Smith chased him and asked him what he smelled like.

Xu Yong couldn't help but laugh when he saw this.

This group of people can still make a living.

When O'Neal said he wanted to bring Mara to the scene before, he was also a little confused.

Buckley is a celebrity after all, drinking fresh horse urine in public, this scene is really unimaginable.

But now, O'Neal leads the liger to the scene, and no one pays attention to his previous encounter.

As for what Barkley drank, it was most likely just a yellow drink.

But that doesn't matter at all.

Because the program is effective, and O'Neal also showed off his presence on TNT in advance, it's a win-win situation.

(End of this chapter)